Posts Tagged with art

So, hey. Me, again. As usual: it’s been a while. University life has a tendency to keep you either too caught up with the all em’ endless deadlines or too mentally-drained to sit down and write some words, no matter how direly inactive your blog’s been. And I know that’s such a typical excuse for basically being one heck of an absent blogger but you’ll just have to accept it because YAY DISAPPOINTMENT….?

Random browsing on GoodReads led me to this quote

I am awfully sentimental. Of books, belongings, people, places. It matters very little how positive or negative the experience was. If it shared some meaningful time in my life, I’ll have trouble letting go.
― Beau Taplin

and OH BOY OH BOY, did it REALLY hit home with me. I seriously am very obviously sentimental since who knows when. It is weird though, because I can’t exactly explain the logic behind it. Guess there’s just something I leave in places and times and people and things and moments, kind of like shedding a bit of who you are in that moment and just leaving it there. And then it’s like automatically everything has a connection to who YOU are/were and the thought of moving on is more than just difficult.

That’s why, perhaps, I tend to write a lot directly/indirectly on the concept of time and it’s magnitude of presence and the ever increasing reduction of human life, shredded by the second. I mean, it’s hard to fathom a clock as a stopwatch, even though it pretty much is. Not that I am necessarily daunted by the future or what it holds. But more so, just the realisation that tomorrow would mean leaving today…replacing today, being ok with leaving behind something that once was so important to you, only for this to happen over and over and over…that’s what I find troubling.

Eventually, every step ahead becomes bittersweet and hell nah,

I don’t like bittersweet.

wrote and illustrated weeks before i read the quote. still holds true, i think.

time kills clocks, too. and you wonder whyi’m sentimental.buddy,i wish i knew.

Heya folks. Ok, I do wish there was a more sophisticated way of beginning these posts, something charismatic ya know? Like the subtlest of head nods and the hip-est of eye winks (eye winks? really?! finished school and all but here I am with preposterous language skillz. nice. ?) Alas, I have failed you and we shall continue, deprived of all the charisma and candy in the world.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’ve been thinking/noticing/staring-at-the-wall for a couple of days. Not continuously, duh. Figuratively. You know when you’re a noob and you spend so long reading about the thing you’re interested in or want to pursue? Like, for me, this whole blogging adventure to be precise. I like to pretend to be thoughtful and read/research on ways to improve or find those hidden industry secrets from acclaimed people on the internet. So to understand what those successful fellas did or didn’t do to make it as far as they have or had and try to take inspiration from their respective journeys.

Obviously, we’re lucky to be living in a world where all these stories of success and progress are so readily available. You don’t have to pluck a bird’s feather, get that high level bird-feather ink and sit under lantern light to finally write something, in hopes of getting it shipped to that one posh library in Oxford or wherever posh libraries used to exist. Nah, we got our Reddits and our Facebooks and our Youtubes and our WordPresses and so on, just endless, empty library shelves floating around in Space 24/7. How sick is that?!

But what I think hasn’t changed is the idea of making the right networks, the need of connections. I, as an aspiring creative, am accustomed to dealing with the creative aspect of this blog (i.e. post planning, writing, rewriting, designing, color picking etc.) on a fairly regular basis. That’s all pretty normal. Yet what isn’t as normal is having to deal with the social a.k.a business aspect of things. Marketing your creativity for the masses. THAT is hardcore stuff.

And let’s be honest here: I’m not that great at it. I mean, I try to publicise my blog as often as possible without sounding obnoxious but it’s still pretty much uncharted waters. Some people seem to have the business self in them oh-so-naturally, that you severely begin to criticise your not-exactly-introverted-but-still-mostly-shy behaviour. It only gets worse when you assess all these awesome creatives online, be it writers or photographers or youtubers or others, and you start to see this pattern where they were able to use the right sort of network or contact or even friendship, as a springboard for a much greater outreach.

Of course, that’s not to say it WASN’T because of their creative efforts, the time spent planning, writing, editing and all, the importance of those tasks can’t and shouldn’t be diminished, BUT the fact that they had that extra level of support can’t be ignored either. (I mean, living in Saudi Arabia..there really aren’t a whole lot of options when it comes to finding that creative crew of humans which means you seek out and truly treasure people or opportunities you may find! Hmm, perhaps it’s actually a blessing in disguise eh? ? )

All in all, I’m immensely grateful to the online connections. Will try not to sound too campy..but the greatest aspect of the World Wide Web is just how easy it is to not feel alone. To find those like-minded people. To realise that no matter how shy or introverted or weird you may be, out-there, somewhere, ARE actual living human beings who can look you in the eye and you’d know…

Hi and welcome to www.tinkererofwords.com. 🙂
This is definitely the biggest blog update, EVER. I’m still so giddy so it’s hard to remember to sound eloquent but LOOK I HAVE A DOMAIN NAME NOW! ISN’T THAT CRAZY?! (a recap if you’re new: I blogged before at www.tinkererofwords.wordpress.com and this is the newer + nicer place..)

The decision to move to a self-hosted blog was a long time coming. I’ve been blogging for 2 years now and yet the thought of migrating to a better platform was uh, daunting..to say the least. It’s not easy investing any amount of money because I guess when you work to improve something, it becomes all the more difficult to abandon said thing without feeling like you’re betraying it. Of course, I wasn’t EVER going to do such a horrid thing but the unexplained feeling of commitment can still be frightening. Nonetheless, this is a change I’m excited about. (WHOM I KIDDING?! I’M 923920304% THRILLED ?). It is just the sort of creative push I was looking for. An urge to work towards a, hopefully, brighter future. 🙂

Okay, now the fun stuff. I hope you’ve noticed that I’ve updated the logo and theme. The categories are all the same so far (besides subcategorising the posts tat are part of an on-going or finished series to ‘Series’). However, if you click on each of the category, you’ll notice something a lil’ cheeky that took far too long to properly configure. Please go check it out and come back to this post and I’ll wait a minute…………or if you’re too lazy/excited read ahead

#waiting

Alright welcome back if you actually did as I told to do in which case please know you’re a really precious human being and the world should be cherishing you and remember to never change, K? K. ? ANYWAY. Where were we? oh yes. The cheeky thing. So ahem, the logo color changes for each category! The default one’s pink but then every category and all the posts in THAT category have got their own designated color. Kewl, no?

Here’s a basic chart to help ya’ll out:

The design process for these has been full of confusion and fun. I’m still a newbie but I’m getting the hang of photoshop and logo design and choosing the right colors like a sensible being. ? I will be sure to write a post on the process of design from the perspective of well…me (who else?!). Eh, maybe it’s something you fancy? Just let me know in the comments if any of you good cookies are interested! ☺️

But yeah, that’s all I can think of saying right now and it’s about 2:30AM which means I’m drowsy….thus I’m going to contradict the voice inside my head telling me to think of a better way to end such an important post..and just say bye. ?
‘Till next time..take cares.

Wrote this a while back, as gratitude for a teacher who helped in more ways than her job required. 🙂

The first poemI wrote inEnglish Classencouraged meto be a lesshorrible poet.So I wrote toimpress you but who knewyou taught to helpus.Not through those‘frame sentences’I loathedbut the time wespentsupposedlywastingand ended upmaking itsomething I stilllong for.Not once, not twicebut countless timesyou being there madethe difference.Perhaps, it is no wonder then, that every poemI write since when you made us write that very first;

I owe you.

Then again,I owe a lotmore too.
<3

-Toto

Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.― Edward Abbey

perhaps uncertainty is not so foreign after all
and we remain determined in proposing
that you and I reside in a place far more
orderly but look around to see the crowds,
a messed-up mass of people voicing this
confusion to sound all normal, like lying
to ourselves has become so supremely
human that you and I abide to those who

rise above others
proclaim beyond measure:

“we’ve got it all figured out.”

oh we, practitioners of delusion,have perfected our methods, at last.

-Toto
p.s. featured image is the japanese symbol for ‘truth’

prompt: “by the light of the moon”

by the light of the moon who is to say you are not as bright as it? who is to know you as you; moored by the echoes of his or her or theirlaughter. by the light of the moon you come and go. but who is to bear yourdeparture?

-Toto

Be fierce for your betterment but better yet;be fierce for the betterment of others.

And if you must tire and stumble,
be certain that gravity too, could act against itself to lift you up;only if the audacity to not stay fallen, o v e r s h a d o w s
those bruisedknees &
your battered self.

You must walk for those can not walk,yet dream of it.

-Toto

p.s. the header photo’s a drawing for my Facebook project where “I draw every day for 1 year” called Story of Progression.
That one was DAY 134. 🙂